(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Express Card adapter card, and more particularly to an adapter card that transforms an Express Card into a PCMCIA interface. The adapter card is not only convenient and economical to manufacture, moreover, after rigid fixing, the firm structure assures the Express Card adapter card will not easily come apart.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
PC Card (also called PCMCIA card) specifications as drawn up by the PCI-SIG (PCI Special Interest Group) have a long history, and early in 1990, ISA was used for internal transmission channels. However, theoretical bandwidth of the PC Card was only 16 MB/s. In 1995, PCI standards were formulated for the transmission channels used in the 32-bit Card Bus specifications, and are still being followed to this day. However, existing PC Card specifications are unable to satisfy modern requirements for bandwidth and size, in particular, notebook computers, which have a greater demand for new PC Card specifications. Hence, PC Express was announced as the official name of the next generation bus structure by PCMCIA on Apr. 17, 2002, and simultaneously publicized the Express Card specifications that would replace the PC Card. A major distinguishing feature of the Express Card is its high integration of PCI Express and USB 2.0, which differentiates it from the Card Bus based on PCI. If USB 2.0 is used as the transmission channel, then theoretical bandwidth attainable is 480 Mb/s (60 MB/s). However, when changed to PCI Express 1×, then the transmission bandwidth of the Express Card reaches 500 MB/s, far exceeding that attainable by existing PCI bus specifications. Furthermore, the Express Card meets market demands because of its smaller size compared to that of the PC Card. Hence, the inventor of the present invention has specifically designed an adapter card that provides for the insertion of the new Express Card, whereupon the adapter card transfers data stored within the Express Card for direct use by existing computer equipment, thereby eliminating the need to update the computer equipment to accommodate establishment of the Express Card specifications. Moreover, the present invention is not only practical and convenient, but also easy and economical to manufacture.